Texas officials: ATF touched off 150-acre wildfire

With a major drought and 2.5 million acres consumed by flames, Texas has been repeatedly rebuffed in its efforts to have the state declared a 'major disaster' area by FEMA. The Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, and other officials believe the White House is pursuing a "political vendetta" against Texas by refusing aid.

On top of that, it would appear that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms may have touched off another wildfire that destroyed 150 acres.

The fight between Texas and Washington, D.C., over wildfires in the Lone Star State just got nastier... A county official in the Texas Panhandle is now blaming a federal agency for starting one of the fires through carelessness.

Tom Edwards, the county attorney in rural Motley County east of Lubbock, said on Friday that the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives was responsible on Tuesday for sparking a fire that consumed 150 acres.

"You can quote me on it: That bunch has a real corner on stupid," Edwards told Reuters.

Tom Crowley, a spokesman with the federal agency, said bureau officials were assisting four local bomb squads -- at their request -- to destroy some explosives. Firefighters were on hand, he said. The wind picked up, but the explosives were too dangerous to move, so the officials went ahead and destroyed the explosives.

..."We've got the federal government that has refused to provide assistance to the state on the request of Governor Perry because of all our statewide fires, and then in waltzes federal agents and they start a fire," Edwards said... "We had high winds, we're under a burn ban because of extensive prairie fires, brush fires, and in they rolled with the idea of blowing up things."

...Fires covering some 203,000 acres were still burning as of Friday, according to the Texas Forest Service. The state remains dangerously dry, with 47 percent of Texas listed as in "exceptional drought" by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Along with Gov. Perry, Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison have repeatedly blasted the White House for denying the state's request for a federal disaster declaration.

Cornyn observes that the state has not even entered the hottest months of the year and that the unfolding disaster will be worsened by the Obama administration's Chicago-style machinations.


Hat tip: Drudge Report.